A desolate trumpet sounded on the damp and sultry outskirts of the city, and the half-hung sun was as big as a disc.

The Mongolian horse, known for its endurance, snorted and slowly approached the city with the reins of the Eight Banners cavalry on the horse.

At the head of Changzhou City, the little soldiers at the lookout had a strong heartbeat, stood on the platform and breathed a sigh of relief, and shouted loudly: "Enemy attack!" ”

There was no need for him to shout, all the people were already waiting in the city tower, and when they heard this shout, they unconsciously clenched the weapons in their hands.

In one corner of the tower, there were eight nondescript creeps, who, though they were wearing armor, were at a loss. These eight people are the scholars who are boating on Taihu Lake, and one of them is a little bolder, encouraging his companions: "Don't be afraid, don't let the surnamed Hou look down on us." "The other seven people, although they talk and point out the country on weekdays, are now so frightened that they can't speak.

The vanguard cavalry was obviously very experienced in siege cities, and stopped the horse's hooves at a distance of 800 meters, which was the range that the Ming artillery could attack. They spread out one by one, and from behind them, all kinds of siege weapons were slowly pushed out.

Duoduo rode on his horse, on a small hill on the outskirts of Changzhou, looking at Changzhou City with blazing eyes. By the time the siege trucks were pushed to the city, Changzhou City still had no movement.

He laughed and said, "What ability do I have when I am Hou Xuanyan, it turns out that he is another Shi Kefa." In the Han Art of War, it is said that once you are vigorous, you will decline again, and then you will be exhausted. The city of Changzhou is not high, there are no lofty mountains, and there is no deep river moat. The order went down, and the whole army stormed and took Changzhou in one fell swoop. ”

Shi Kefa guarded Yangzhou, but the army only passively defended the city when it arrived under the city, and the dignified Yangzhou City did not hold even a day. Now the defenders of Changzhou have no movement, and he is only afraid of fighting when he is a soldier and horse in the city, and he does not dare to fight him.

Hong Chengchou shook his head behind him, stepped forward and said, "Lord Wang, we poured all our troops and horses to Changzhou, and the slaves were really worried that the thieves would go up the river and attack Jiangning. It is better to let the old slave bring a force of soldiers and horses to Jiangyin, first, to prevent thieves from going up the river, and second, to besiege Changzhou. ”

Duoduo took the horsewhip, pondered for a moment, and said: "What Lord Hong said is very reasonable, so let's take the soldiers and horses of the original Cao Cunxing to fight Jiangyin." ”

Hong Chengchou took the order and left, and after a while, a Qing soldier in the left army followed him to the north, and the others quickly filled the vacancy and advanced to the city of Changzhou.

A personal soldier rode on a horse, stepped forward, and asked, "My lord, Prince Yu is about to take Changzhou, let's leave at this time, wouldn't it be okay to put the ready-made merits." ”

When Hong Chengchou was standing, he bent over his shoulders, but when he arrived on the horse, he had a little more vitality. His equestrian skills are not bad, and he said to his young family and current henchmen: "We just lost to Hou Xuanyan half a month ago, and now if we follow the attack on Changzhou, with my official status, I will inevitably win the second-class credit." This city-breaking work, the prince is the first, and I Hong Chengchou is the second. In this way, who in the army is convinced?

I am not a Manchurian, and I am now the pinnacle of the Han people as an official, how can I not know how to advance and retreat. If you really provoke everyone in the army to complain, that is the way to die. We are in the court of the Manchurians, and we must not only see the pros and cons in front of us. ”

The soldiers have followed him for many years, and their affection has long surpassed that of the master and servant, and after listening to Hong Chengchou's words, although he didn't believe it, he didn't ask anymore.

Hong Chengchou clamped the horse's belly, the horse was in pain, struggled to move his four hooves, and galloped forward. Feeling the sound of the wind whistling in his ears, Hong Chengchou sighed in his heart, he still didn't say a word. With his understanding of Duoduo and his understanding of Hou Xuanyan during this time, coupled with the experience gained by Rong Ma in his life. He had a vague feeling in his heart that Duoduo might not win. If I, Hong Chengchou, don't go, I will win and take the credit, which will make people angry; If I lose, this black cauldron is bound to fall on my head. In that case, it is better to leave this place early. At the beginning, Xu Shu did not stay in Chibi and escaped the fire of 800 miles, and I, Hong Chengchou, should not stay under the city of Changzhou and mix inside and outside the city.

Back to Changzhou City, the whining sound is a long horn sound, accompanied by the majestic and long horn sound, in the Qing army array under Changzhou City, countless small black dots come densely from all directions, and gradually converge into a wave of anger, surging viciously, overwhelmingly impacting the city wall.

Duoduo laughed, looked around and said, "The Han people in Changzhou are too scared to fight back, so let's drink in the city tonight." ”

A flag general behind him licked his lips and said in Manchu: "Lord Wang, I don't think Yangzhou has been killed hard enough, and these Han people still don't have a long memory." Break the city tonight, we might as well ..."

Duoduo smiled and said, "Slaughter the city, this time you will kill no one." ”

Eventually, the Qing army rushed to the city, and the water level of the moat rose after a few days of heavy rain, but it still could not be compared to Suzhou. The Qing soldiers easily erected wooden planks as pontoons. Yan Yingyuan stared at the city without blinking, and the soldiers were silent until this moment, and shouted loudly: "The fire box!" ”

The iron fire bed hidden in the city wall poured the molten iron into the fire iron box, and threw it onto the huge wooden ox carts and carts near the castle. The high temperature of molten iron not only made the Qing soldiers lose their ability to attack, but also caused the fireproof raw cowhide and other materials on these terrifying siege equipment to burn.

The last time Hou Xuanyan was in Suzhou, there were no such things, but this time the preparation time was sufficient, the supply of money and food was endless, and various means of defending the city had already been prepared. Yan Yingyuan also changed from a poor egg in Jiangyin City to a shotgun, and was able to use the best city defense equipment in the world to fight with the Qing soldiers in a dignified manner.

The Qing soldiers under the city were burned by these molten iron, and there was the smell of burnt meat everywhere, this was not the end, and soon with the flashing of the banner on the head of the city, many yellow cabinets were launched in front of the wall of the city wall, and the front end of the yellow cabinet suddenly spit out a long tongue of fire, and the tongue of fire fell on the Qing soldiers under the city and immediately attached a piece, burning violently.

This is called the fierce fire oil tank, as early as hundreds of years ago has been invented by the Han people to defend the city, its principle is actually very simple, the so-called fierce fire, is oil, at that time it was also called fierce fire oil, those yellow cabinets are made of cooked copper, there is a mouth, can be continuously injected with oil, there is a hair dryer behind, can compress the air, people in the people are erosive, water can not be extinguished, the lethality is great.

For a time, hundreds or thousands of Qing soldiers were burned to charcoal. There were also many people wailing and jumping into the moat, and the smoke and fire under the city were so smoky that they could barely breathe.

Duoduo, who had been observing the battle situation, frowned when he saw the fire under the city, and said viciously: "The whole army is attacking, let me continue to charge!" ”

Yan Yingyuan saw that the Qing soldiers did not retreat but advanced, and constantly poured in from the rear army, he had already seen the ferocity and courage of the Qing soldiers, and he was not surprised.

"Gunner ready!"